"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control; these three alone, lead life to sovereign power." Alfred Lord Tennyson
I ask that you use your own personal discrimination when reading this article, and set aside any words, aspects or concepts that do not resonate with you. For I recognise your freedom to choose what is right for you, and would not wish to violate your freewill, but rather, I would act only as a resource for your seeking.
As mentioned in the ‘about archetypal mind’ page, this blog is a personal blog. Indeed, I intend to talk about how the archetypal mind has and is impacting me, and why I have felt it necessary, to bring this information into the world. In pursuance of the objective, I want to tell you all about the life that I am living. My principal endeavour in this lifetime is to the transformational process of my own individuation. In pursuit of this objective, I believe that I have established access to the Centre, to what Paul Tillich calls the ‘power of being.’
This source constantly infuses my life, with great energy, which is coupled to my own courage, and arises from realising that suffering is just ‘catalyst’, which pushes me forward in the transformation process. Catalyst, in this context, means anything that happens to me which triggers me into an emotional response to what is arising in my life. I don't view this as negative; I consider it to be positive, representing a helpful prompt from the Universe to reconsider that trigger, and to learn from it, so that I may grow, evolve and individuate. If we are psychologically disposed towards the pole of Nonbeing, as opposed to Being, then we might consider catalyst to be negative. If, however, we are orientated towards the pole of our own freedom, trusting the journey, and having faith in our own progress, then catalyst is to be regarded as positive. It helps us to transform, by pointing out to us the areas that need examination, healing and transformation.
I feel blessed, and extremely fortunate to now live my life from this place. I am an individual who has principally arisen, in this incarnation at least, from the Magician sector, which is a part of the psyche that is probably more fortified and robust than other energy types. I have a strong alliance to my Warrior, from which the 'libidinal' forces of fire arise, which affords me great determination to maintain, not only connection with the Centre, but with my own energy. As I balance my Magician with my King, I become more grounded, more aligned to the Centre, more able to steady my ship, more able to remain focused in the process of transformation. This is strongly helping me, although not always, to ensure that my energy field is not overrun by others, by events, and most importantly, by my own guilt and condemnation, arising from past acts which have limited my beliefs and had a karmic impact upon me.
The 'power of being' is fundamental. Without it, it will be exceedingly difficult to transform, grow and evolve. Wherever we connect to the power of being, it becomes our personal non-religious, sacred sacrament. The power of being is our connection to the Centre, this is our personal life force energy; this is what animates us. This is what we use in everyday life to undertake a human journey. The more numinous energy we have, the greater the radiance we have; the more we shine in general, this is known as charisma or vitality. Instead of only drawing energy from food, or other people or the events of our life, we connect to our core, fully acknowledging that our true energy arises from that place. This is an inexhaustible source, which never runs dry. When we fully acknowledge this, and live our daily lives in accordance with this, we can turn a corner in the way that we relate to ourselves and the cosmos.
A robust Warrior practice (Warriorship) is crucial, not only to contain any excessive Lover energies, but to power the process itself. I utilise an array of daily Warrior practices, such gym resistance training, Tibetan rites, Pilates, meditation, and energy clearing and chakra balancing. I consume clean water that is ‘alive,’ I have a healthy vegetarian keto diet, I run, walk and dance. These practices optimise my opportunity to build and maintain sufficient energy for the courage to transform. Rejuvenating ‘yin' time, is essential, where I fully relax and allow, refraining from doing.
Every idea, concept, action, sign or symbol, has a light aspect, and a dark aspect. The dark aspect is the shadow, which always exists in opposition. If it is life-giving, affirmative, about love, or growth, it will be the light aspect, which promotes the power of being. If it is the shadow, which promotes nonbeing or death, then this represents its opposite. It’s not what we believe, it’s how we use what we believe, either in the service of being, or in the service of non-being, in the service of love, or in the service of fear, in the service of growth or in the service of retraction. When we have access to the Centre, the power of being, we can become a portal for life. We can shine our charisma upon others, in a positive sense. We can become like the Sun, life giving and life affirming. This must be done in such a way where we do not identify with the great luminal archetypal energies, of the Great Self, which we are unconsciously recruiting.
I believe that the optimal spiritual life is about the establishment of a life affirming, positive. psychological framework, which wraps around one’s transformational process. The framework is essentially a myth. The more comprehensive, encompassing, rich and complex the myth is, the more efficacious its psychological impact upon us will be. Life affirming psychological frameworks, which orientate one towards individuation, utilising the power of being, optimise the evolution of the soul. If you do not have an all-encompassing framework that orientates you in the psychological landscape, then potentially there are areas which might drop into the shadow and unduly influence how we act and how we feel. The most all-encompassing, mythological framework, that I have come across is the Law of One. This myth explains the need for contrast, evil and the dark. These are all necessary components, which enable an individuating soul, to evolve to grow to transform. This framework provides an exquisitely detailed account of the evolution of conscious entities. It proposes that there are two kinds of paths, which a soul can take. One can either take the path of “service-to-others “, or the path of “service-to-self ". Both are equally valid. The service-to-others path, where instead of serving oneself, we serve others as our primary, is in general, the easier of the two paths. I will dive deeper into the myth of the Law of One, in another article.
The service-to-self path excludes love of anything outside of itself. It places the individual fully at the centre of their own universe. They have become the Centre, fully and completely identifying with the archetype of the Great Self, seeing no distinction between the two. All others are to be subjugated to oneself, as they do not matter in any way, shape or form. In fact, they have no tangible or real existence, they are just backdrop individuals, who are here to serve small 's' self or Ego. The image of Sauron from Lord of the Rings is the archetypal example of the service-to-self type (see The Return of the King blog post). Let me be clear, this path, as stated before, is as valid as the service-to-others path. The Creator plays both parts. Since all is the Creator, then the service-to-self is valid and is not to be excluded from Creation.
If you are connected to the Centre, to the archetype of the Great Self, unconsciously identifying with it as your ego self, then you will most likely be fully plugged in to this enormous energy. Its power is immense, and it can light you up! However, if it’s grandiose and serving nonbeing, then it is going to be what Paul Tillich and Robert Moore called demonic energy. So many imperialistic types in a modern world are plugged into the Centre just like this, being in their inflated grandiose selves, being gobbled up by the Dragon, behaving in egotistical terms, which are not life affirming, and is wholly negative and dark.
This type of connection to the to the Centre provides energy, but it does not provide the courage for transformation, for change, for evolution, for the individuation process. However, whenever you begin to plug-in, one is going to inflate, and contact this energy. If we don’t have some level of containment and regulation, that energy will build, and it could lead to a psychotic break. A strong practice of meditation will regulate and contain that energy. By meditation, I mean contacting, becoming and allowing the Presence within us to arise. This is the true Centre the core, which is pure Awareness, the ground of universal being. Here wholeness abides, which is unbroken, unchangeable and immutable. When we have a practice of connecting to pure Awareness and sitting in it, then the Human self-ego axis begins to burgeon, to strengthen and be grounded into the physical Human world.
If you have not developed a meditative practice to this extent, then just sitting in silence with eyes closed, feeling, listening, and being with whatever thought, feeling, sound or sensation arises. Ten or fifteen minutes just spent in this type of contemplation, can ground us and connect us to our Centre. In contemplation, we are not really using any type of meditative technique, we are just being with whatever arises. Meditative and contemplative practice is not necessarily a warrior practice per se, i.e. a 'doing thing'. However, Warriorship is required in order to maintain discipline to undertake any sort of practice. The Warrior is the protector of your domain. It is the one that builds practice, it is the one that commits to discipline. It is the one that keeps you safe. When the king tasks the Warrior to do this, in allegiance to that process, the Warrior executes the King's orders without fail. These practices take one out of the profane world and into the sacred world. In so doing, we can re-establish what Peter Berger called the 'sacred canopy'. However, the difference is that instead of using a priest, or a shaman, or a rabbi to regulate and contain, we are undertaking our own regulation and containment, utilising the archetypal energies, consciously, and for life affirming purposes. If this libidinal energy is not manifesting in your life, then you may be shutting it down, or passing it onto someone or something else, through an' idealising projection', allowing them to carry that energy for you.
Grandiosity is very seductive; it sneaks up upon us when we’re not looking. Just when we think that we believe that we have it under control, is the very moment that we don’t have it under control - it has us under its control! Profanation (to make profane) is characterised as a deflationary phase of being in touch with the archetypal energies. This is a lack of energy, a deflation, when we begin to go through life by unconscious rote, without really being connected with it in any deep and meaningful way. So, we have two poles of potential, swinging between this low energy of profanity and isolation, and this high energy of grandiosity. Both do not serve life whatsoever. It takes ritualistic undertakings to contain these energies. It takes prayer in the form of dialoguing with the Centre. This practice builds a relationship to the Centre, to the primordial power itself. The use of mythic symbols also connects us to the Centre. These symbols are means of aligning to this energy. The previously mentioned use of a psychological framework to contain and regulate, is a deep kind of symbolism, which is how we connect with the collective unconscious, the objective psyche, the Great Self within. Essentially prayer is a discourse with our soul, with our Higher Self, with our Highest Self, and ultimately the source, the primordial fountain, or pure Awareness.
The true act of courage is essentially being oneself, no matter what one experiences, no matter what obstacle is placed in the path of this endeavour. The act of courage is an ontological act, the basis and means of our personal being. It’s an endeavour is to establish and maintain the being of individuality. The courage to be our true selves is in my opinion, the noblest of human endeavours. Courage is the essential quality of the individuation process; without it, we shall falter and fall short of reaching the zenith of our personal trial to bring forth our essential and most resplendent blueprint. The courage to withstand the compelling force to comply with the will of others, whilst maintaining one’s pure hearted stance, of being true to oneself, is in my opinion, the height of Human nobility. To maintain faith that all is well, no matter what the circumstances, requires the most, nay the utmost courage, above all else. There is a trinity of expressions of courage, the love of the Creator, the love of others, and love of oneself. This leads to the revelation of universal love of the Creator for itself, no matter what form it manifests as. The power of being actualises the self through the will to be. The will of the power of being, is to hold strong, to focus on the ultimate outcome of perfect self-affirmation, is the ontology of Individuation.
Within the context of this piece, I don't have the scope to go into sufficient detail to explain the history of our current living arrangements. Suffice to say that my wife and I took a decision around two years ago, to step back from working in the manner we were, and fully invest our time and savings into healing ourselves, to coming into deeper alignment, with the aim of bringing forth more of our true gifts and talents into the world, in service to others and the planet. This has been a bumpy ride of extremes as we attempt to face within us all that inhibits our flow. We are in an interesting position at present, where we are waiting for additional funds to come through, and our savings are rapidly running out, leaving us in a position of potentially not having a house to live in, in the next few weeks. This predicament enables us to examine all the fears that are coming up within us. Some would say that this is irresponsible position to allow ourselves to be in. At a soul level, we have chosen to do this; at a Human level it would not be our choice and it's as scary as fuck! However, it takes us right to the edge of our comfort zone', to face and own our fears and is a perfect opportunity to dig deep. The aim is to continually be aware that we are always connected to the Centre, to the power of being, and that the Universe always has our back, even though it may appear that that is not the case! If we can maintain balance, groundedness, and knowing that all will be well, regardless of the circumstances, then it does not matter whether abundance is physically flowing into us or not. When we can establish this foundational knowing within us, and live it day by day, moment by moment, then we have crossed the Rubicon, we have connected more deeply to the Centre than ever before, to the good, to the everlasting prosperity of abundance. This is our practice! When we can meet each feeling as it arises, with love and compassion and patience, then the part of us that is troubled, begins to soften, begins to know that we are a representative of the Centre, are looking after it, and that all will be well. Each unintegrated part within us, which is associated with some type of trauma from our past, needs to be met with the self-energy of the Centre. When our parts begin to trust us, then, slowly bit-by-bit, they can come in from the cold, slowly releasing their trauma, their story, which enables them to be integrated into the system self of the ego.
This is where the 'rubber hits the road', where we' walk-the-talk', and live what we have been preaching. If we cannot or will not allow ourselves to explore this, then maybe we have been kidding ourselves with all our spiritual endeavors, only pretending that we can do it. Only when we push to the edge, can we really test our mettle, our commitment to the process that we have undertaken. This is the type of life-testing which one can deliberately create, to push the boundaries of our own capabilities, using the power of being, and the courage to do so. All this is really a description of faith in ourselves, faith in the process, faith that everything is always turning out for the best.
At the root of our human experience, is anxiety. The most basic feeling of anxiety arises from the instinct to survive, to be. "Am I worthy enough to exist, to take up space, to have needs, to be respected for my individuality?", is the unspoken anxiety. Some say that our shame is the 'underbelly of narcissism', which arises from the thought or feeling that one does not have the right to exist, or to manifest. Self-worth is the basic platform upon which we build the system self of the ego. Perhaps our most fundamental trauma, existing in the most primordial aspect of our being, is what is known as the 'fall from the unity of the One'. When our specific consciousness was birthed, we were no longer a conscious part of the connected whole (of the Centre), we were on our own, on the great path of individuation. The paradox within us is the unspoken, shadow knowing that we are a part, and simultaneously, the whole. We are therefore caught in the tension between the two, between being and non-being, between life and death between being a part and being the whole. For me, there is a fundamental dynamic at work in the universe. It is represented by the symbol of the torus. This toroidal dynamic is the push-me-pull-me action, the attraction and repulsion, represented by the polarities of a magnet. The pushing away is the independence (or separation), the pulling back, is the unification (the making whole). The birthing of your being as a conscious entity, was the pushing away. The attraction of the whole is pulling you back into unity, through the action of love. Faith is the knowing that you are part of the whole, and always connected to the Centre, which is the source of well-being, creativity, abundance, and above all love. Trust yourself, trust life, trust that you will never truly be abandoned, because you are an irrefutable, undeniable, unique aspect of the whole and completely worthy of love, and it is your birthright to be your authentic self.
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